What Size is Your Service?

My first job was at the Dairy Queen. I worked in a little building that had an outdoor walk-up counter and we would slide the window open to take an order. Needless to say, I can still impress my kids at any soft serve machine in town by, through the flick of my wrist, creating the perfect curl on the top of a cone. This craft was perfected through practice and cone size training. On the wall at the Dairy Queen, a small, medium and large cone were drawn to detail and we were expected to deliver the correct size cone to every customer. A small cone was to be 3.5 ounces and needed to have a specific shape, not too skinny, and not to short and stout. If we made a cone, held it up to the diagram, and it was too big, or too short, we needed to make note of that and try harder. If it weighed under or over the 3.5 ounces, by half an ounce or more, we were to scrape it off and make another. My naive teenage mind assumed this was to maximize profits and eliminate waste. What it really was all about was delivering consistently.

On a recent trip to our local Dairy Queen, the gentleman in front of me ordered a small cone. He got what appeared to be a very substantial small cone. As a matter of fact, it was quite large. I ordered the same thing for my son, yet, what we got was not at all the same. Though the curl was perfect, the size was about half of the other guy’s. My son took the cone and said, “Crud. We got jipped”. I knew someone was not following good cone protocol.

Did we get cheated or did the other guy get too much? Chances are good we got the perfect cone, but how would we know?

Make sure you can deliver consistently and predictably each and every time before you try to delivery extraordinarily. Consistently delivering what you promised, i.e. a clean apartment, timely service, functional amenities, etc. will result in long term residents and the trust in service that generates referrals.